WHO IS NEXT

LEVEL 2

I wanted to remain as close as possible to my husband as we walked through the door to the next room. He then whispered into my ears “Babe, are you scared or you just want to remain close?”. I felt like shouting “of course I am scared, why did it take you so long to notice?!” But instead I heard myself saying “C’mon Babe, the Lord has not given me the spirit of fear, has he?”. Dave smiled and I could see he was pleased by my response.

As I questioned myself, not Understanding why I denied my fears, we heard the instructions for level 2.

“Hello there, y’all must be feeling so good after the whole pampering of level one and all of the care received. This level is a little different but not more than you can handle. You can see with you there five tables with one electronic device on each. The tables are labelled religion, Academics, Crafts, Business and Family. You are to choose not more than two of these options, play the 5minutes videos on the device and learn carefully. You’ve got just 10mins to spend here. Happy learning people, Enjoy!”

I chose religion and academics while Dave chose Religion and Business. We sat together for the 5mins video on Christianity and after then, I went to the stand for Academics while he went for Business.

I got a page each of the big Jotters provided on each learning table and wrote down what I got from the videos.
Focused on getting everything I could from the videos, I didn’t note what the other people chose to learn but I remember watching the video on academics together with Tiffany and Dan.

This level seemed faster than the allocated 10 minutes but immediately the voice rang from the speaker to signify the end of the level,I checked my wrist watch and it was accurately 10 minutes from when we started.

“You can now leave this level and move to the next. If your timer Is beeping, drop all in your hands and use the exit door”.

We could all move to the next level except Tiffany, her timer was beeping so loud, she had to use the door labelled “EXIT DOOR, YOU ARE NEXT”.

I could see the pain in her eyes as she gave her husband, Mark, a good luck kiss and walked towards the door.

The rest of us moved to the next level. I don’t know if it was just me or everyone had so many questions to ask about this game and how it was going, I tried to keep calm and was back to my position closest to my dear husband.

LEVEL 3

I looked towards Mark expecting a look of loss of interest in continuing the game with us but it was the opposite. He looked like the kiss from the love of his life had given him more life to carry on.

“Hello there, I congratulate you on your entrance into level 3. I am not going to bore you with long stories. I’ll just get straight to the point. Here you have seven tables each bearing same materials; a Jotter, a pen, and a small electronic device. On each device, you have your options, either to do test(s) on the knowledge acquired in Level 2 or open more courses to learn, duration for each is 5 minutes max.
Whatever your choice, your reward awaits you, 15 minutes to do this, get to your tables, make your decisions and get it started. Your Time starts now!”

I went straight to table 4 and Dave took position for table 5. I had made my decisions as the instructions were being stated so I didn’t waste any time in going straight to the tests on academics which I was able to submit before 5minutes unlike my test on religion which got me so confused, I couldn’t finish it up before auto submission.

Other courses Available for learning were Advanced family building, Entrepreneurship, Sciences and Advanced Finance. And I chose Advanced family building which was to last 5minutes. I was about 4 minutes into the lesson video when I heard the beep beep sounds from my right and left sides. Dave was on my right and James was on my left.

I understood what that meant and I immediately paused the video and was ready to leave with my husband. I didn’t want to think of going on with the game without him by my side. I was so ready to leave and even tried to see if I could make my timer to beep too but I wasn’t successful with that.

Dave was smiling at my reactions and just said “Babe, it’s fine, you can do this ok?”

“Time up! “You can now leave this level and move to the next. Only If your timer Is beeping can you use the exit door. If it’s not, you are expected to move to the next level”.

I didn’t care about their instructions, I held on tight to Dave as he walked with James towards the exit door. James walked out of the door and Dave looked to me, carefully removed his wrist from my grip and said into my ears; “I’ve always known you’re stronger than you demonstrate, show that strength now”.

And that was it, the door was closed and my Dave was gone.
I tried opening the door but it was locked. I sat there on the floor and was unwilling to continue. Giving him a phone call was not an option as our mobile phones were submitted at the reception.

Dan came to help me up and reminded me that it was just a game and my husband might be somewhere watching as we continue.

Someone as fearful as I am won’t judge me if I say,as he mentioned that, all I thought of were the movies where ghosts watched their loved ones but can’t be seen nor touched by them.
Mark and Grace couldn’t control their laughter and I soon took it as mockery I had to face them to say ; “That you can stand the absence of your partners gives you no right to make me feel bad about missing mine.”

I could see the shock on their faces , I got them exactly where I wanted, in silence and deep thoughts.

LEVEL 4

As we moved into level 4, I was very angry, scared and heartbroken at the same time. Angry at myself for not expressing my displeasure about the game from the initials, scared the whole thing might be more than just a game and heartbroken because Dave left me.

The speaker echoed the instructions for the new level as expected;

“Congratulations on your entrance into level 4, we can see it’s getting more interesting as we go higher. Caution your emotions, mind your actions and stay focused for all of these are being monitored to determine your reward at the end.
In this level, you are expected to go to any of the provided tables, on it you’ll find a list of practical life puzzles and some bonus questions you are to solve, no particular order of carrying out these tasks, just do all you can in 15mins. Good luck!”

I walked to a table and saw a long list of possible life issues every human can face, ending with the question “What will you do?”. Below it were difficult questions related to the courses that were made available to us in the levels before.

I looked at the others and they had all started working on their tasks. I had lost my enthusiasm when my husband walked out of that door. Five minutes passed and I couldn’t even get the understanding of any of the questions.

At the end of the 15minutes, I was able to answer most of the questions on previously learnt courses and just three of the questions on life issues.

“Time up!, Timers beeping already?, if yes, then, You are next. Drop all in your hands and use the exit door while others prepare to move to the next level”

Mark and Grace had their timers beeping loudly. I had wanted mine to beep so I could use the exit door and go meet my dearest, and if it requires a fight I was ready for it. But there I was with the gadget on my wrist not making a sound. I would have loved to do an exchange of the gadgets with either Grace or Mark but I had tried removing it earlier and was unsuccessful.

As Mark and Grace walked towards the door, I ran to them and quickly apologized to them for being rude and careless with my words earlier.

Mark patted me on the back, smiled and said; “we understand, we were wrong to have laughed at you as you expressed your pains too”.

Grace hugged me and said “We are sorry dear, finish up this game fast so we can plan a couples outing together alright”. They walked out and the door locked behind them automatically.

I really needed that hug at that time and her words about planning a couples outing brought a feeling of ease within me and I began to believe it was just a game after all, there was no need to be scared.

It was Dan and I now and I felt an increase in confidence as we moved on to the next level.

LEVEL 5

Dan and I walked into the next room for level 5, I had overcome my fears and was ready for full participation in the game.
The voice from the speaker echoed;

“congratulations on your entry into a new level.You have done a great job learning and applying what you have learnt from level 2 to this level. This Level is a personal one and the tables have been labelled with your names. Some of your successful tasks have earned you some coins, part of which we have dropped on your personal tables.
The coins can be used in exchange for any of the snacks or drinks in the fridge at the left hand side of the room. All snacks have price tags, you can pick up any and drop the equivalent amount from your earned coins in the box next to the fridge.
Some other tasks have been provided for you to handle and earn more points.
You have 15 minutes for this level. Your time starts now!”

As the instructions were being said, I had taken my position on the table labeled Hadassah-my name.

The coins was a currency customized for the game. With “Who’s Next” engraved around the value of each coin. The numbers representing the value of each had a superscript JF which I guessed was to signify JUFTAN.

I calculated what I had and it summed up to 50JFs. Two 5s, two 10s and one 20JF coins. I looked towards Dan and as he counted, I knew his coins were more than mine, but I wasn’t interested in the amount. I had gone through enough stress,I needed something to cool off , so I walked to the fridge and picked a very chilled drink with price tag 40JF, I dropped the equivalent coins to this price and walked back to my table with my remaining coins.

Dan didn’t get any snacks nor drinks, he had started his tasks immediately after counting his earnings. I smiled at his zeal and picked up the device to do my own tasks.

It was few seconds to the end of the allocated time, Dan’s gadget started beeping loudly. He ran to the fridge to get something with his coins but it was too late.

“Time up!” Came the voice from the speaker.

As I was about to start laughing at his reaction I heard my own wrist gadget beeping too.

I didn’t know how to react, all I could say was “wow” and I took the last gulp of my drink.

The voice from the speaker continued saying;

” You have come to the end of this level and I must say, you have really done well. If your gadget is beeping already, kindly drop all in your hands and use the exit door and if not, you can move to the next level.”

I could see the disappointment on Dan’s face as he wasn’t going to the next level. I went to him, gave him a hug and said; “Don’t go carrying that face now Danny, it’s just a game. Moreover, we are leaving together”.

I finally used the Exit door, because I was next!.

We opened the door, and instead of the pit and different strange things I had imagined, this door actually opened into a beautiful room designed with beautiful flowers and art works.

As I admired this beauty, Dave and the others came in from another door welcoming us with applause and smiles.
I ran straight into my Husband’s open arms and confessed I couldn’t imagine living without him.

After all of the hugs and congratulatory greetings, we all sat on a round table in this Beautiful room and Mr Nelson took the biggest seat to explain the game and it’s principles to us.

The Inspiration

“This game was created by My Uncle, the highly respected but now late Justin Tan the founder of JUFTAN park. Justin Tan was a man of deep thoughts and wisdom.

On the day he got the inspiration, he was having his evening rest after the day’s activities at the park and meditating on life when it struck his heart.

He called to his wife, Faith Tan and asked her;
“Faith dearest, what do you think is the greatest fear of people on earth?”

“Death” she replied.

Sir Justin smiled and said to her; ” You have said well dearest and that was exactly the reply I gave myself as the thought crossed my mind. But Faith my dear, do you know that our greatest fear should not be death?”

Ma Faith, God bless her soul, was almost confused but willing to learn from her very wise husband and so she humbly asked that he explained to her in details and he did by saying;

“It is understandable that we get frightened when we receive news about the death of someone we know, especially the young ones leaving the world at ages we can call “too early”. But I believe we should only worry and be scared of something that we can change or stop. Whatever we can’t change should simply be accepted.

Death as a case can be likened to a constant. Even the bible teaches us that a man’s longest life span on an average is seventy years-though some have lived beyond this- there have not been any who lived beyond 200 in this our time that I know of.

No matter what we do or how we try to manage through life, we will still walk through the door of death right?. So why be anxious or worry much about death when you can’t stop it?

I think I’ll prefer to call Death an exit door out of this life and entrance into another realm.”

“What then should be our worry if not death itself?” Ma Faith asked.

“Our focus should be on how well we’ll use the time we have to earn points for a life after Death.” He concluded.

This was the origin of this game and that is why we have levels 1 to 7. Sir Justin tried to make each level have a touch of what will likely happen in each decade of one’s life. From the pampering of the first decade to the acquisition of knowledge and skills in the second and third decade, to the utilization of learnt skills as we grow older, till the weak bones of the sixth and seventh decades.

It’s such a pity none of us got to the last level.

The gadgets were randomly given and the timing on each differs just like our time on earth differs. We’ll all be scored on the basis of what we were able to do with the time we had and your gifts will be handed over to you according to your scores”

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After Sir Nelson explained the whole game, I picked up my pen and wrote in my Jotter what I learnt and how I could relate it to my Christian walk as follows;

End notes

1. Time is ticking, I better say No to procrastination because I might be the next to use that door.

2. How well am I acquiring knowledge to deal with future tasks and problems of life?

3. My focus should not be on the fear of death but on what happens after death. When the transition happens, am I going to spend eternity In hell or with the Lord?

4. If my score sheets be checked so far, how well have I done?

5. No matter how strongly I love my husband, he might use the door before me or vice versa. That’ll be very painful but the journey continues.

6. What are the things I need to put right before my time gadget starts beeping?

7. Death on earth is really not the biggest problem but having to face a second death afterwards is the highest danger.

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There are more lessons in there, you can help point them out and simply drop them in the comments box.

Thanks for reading
God bless.
Continue with us as we go on Faithplane, a journey through faithway.